Televisual articles from November 2000

Televisual archives from November 2000

DTI bankrolls skills survey.
November 1, 2000... The DTI has stumped up funding for a survey of how well the TV and video industries train staff, to be administered through the IVCA. The survey, piloted last year, will launch this month at the trade association's Mapcom. Rosanne Levy has...

Brave takes on Argentinians.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... The Brave Film Company has signed Argentinian collective Peluca to its roster. Luciano Podcaminsky, Agustin Marques, Enrique Garcia Siedner (Quique) and Juan Taratuto will be represented by Brave from this month. Brave md Emily Bliss says...

D&AD calls for fresh blood.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... D&AD launched online showcase Bloodbank this month, in partnership with Gettyone, a division of Getty Images. It aims to be a resource for creatives to find new talent in design, advertising and communication. A free service, Bloodbank only...

Channel Health trials push-pull technology for EU.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... The EU has recruited Channel Health for a cutting-edge interactive TV application using new Astra-SES technology. To launch on digital satellite next year, the new channel has a remit to provide programmes on preventative medicine. As part...

Fred Hasson.
November 1, 2000... Fred Hasson's H2P is looking to form partnerships with independents and broadcasters to provide material for web-TV outfit, Canalweb UK. The joint-venture between H2P (which Hasson formed after leaving Victoria Real) and Canalweb France...

AIRIA.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... The first live global in-flight entertainment channel will launch late next year, according to mobile satellite communications provider Airia. The service will carry live news from BBC World and a sports channel custom-designed by TWI. It uses...

AMX.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... Interactive specialist AMX is warming up interactive ad skills on a spot for Mondex, the smart-card e-cash provider, for Future TV. AMX WNEK, a partnership with Euro RSCG, aims to integrate web and video interactive advertising: traditional...

Image Dynamic on the hunt for special talents.
November 1, 2000... A boost in commissions following promos for A1 and Backstreet Boys has led Image Dynamic to expand its roster with experienced UK-based directors. Production has just finished on a corporate image film for Deutsche Telekom and in the...

Triffic takes Rolf Harris to the hairdresser's.
November 1, 2000... Triffic Film's latest project for Channel 4's Comedy Lab is Rolf's Animal Hairdresser's. Produced by John Tiffney and directed by Tim Searle, it has John Thomson (Cold Feet) as Roll Harris ("though Rolf doesn't know about it yet" says...

News Scots writers debut on air.
November 1, 2000... Six hall-hour dramas from the Scottish screen writing initiative New Found Land will air regionally from this month and screen at a training day on 28 November. Sponsored by Grampian, STV, Scottish Screen and the SAC lottery fund, it...

Flynn Productions.
November 1, 2000... Flynn Productions has completed a promo for US band, Bleachin'. Comedown was commissioned by BMG in the US for release in the new year. Director Jason Smith broke from his usual narrative promo style to create "non-sequential, fucked-up...

THE AMERICAN NIGHTMARE.
November 1, 2000... A slasher doc from Minerva, The American Nightmare, makes its European debut at the London Film Festival this month featuring archive footage from over 100 cult movies from 1968 to 1978, Written and directed by Adam Simon, the 75-minute...

EITF.
November 1, 2000... Launched at the EITF this year, in-movies. co.uk's short film competition is still open to entries - now with the blessing of minister for film, Janet Anderson, who will present the award on 11 December. As the "UK's largest," the web-channel...

Hawkshead's Mission Impossible.
November 1, 2000... New ways of Working is a spy thriller that aims to cut down staff traffic with a new restocking system at Tesco. Says Hawkshead md Sarah Beadsmoore, "the audience gets tired of new initiatives, so we have to make sure it's an original idea"...

Talkback sucks thumb candy.
November 1, 2000... Talkback's Thumb Candy is to be the centrepiece of Channel 4's upcoming computer-technology homage, Cybernight, hosted by The 11 O'Clock Show's lain Lee. Produced and directed by James Bobin, the hour-long documentary traces the history of...

Volvo gets back to reality.
November 1, 2000... Smillie Films' Forwards, a spot for the Volvo S60, is part of the car manufacturer's global marketing campaign devised by agency MVBMS. Shot in the Carcassonne region of southern France, it shows the Volvo driving through everyday scenes...

Red pushes Playstation down players' throats.
November 1, 2000... The Paul Weiland Film Company is behind the new ad for Playstation called Chat Room. Director Graham Fink co-wrote alongside creative director Trevor Beattie from TBWA London. The commercial features four people "talking" to each other...

Bullet.
November 1, 2000... Bullet has completed a new promo for American boy-band Plus One which has a "subtle, filmic feel," according to director Jamie Morgan. The Last Right Out, shot on a budget of $350k for Atlantic Records in the US during September and posted at...

Electric Sky and Skaramoosh.
November 1, 2000... Electric Sky and Skaramoosh go into production next month with a forensic archeology series, Tales of the Living Dead. The 13x30-minute series will use unorthodox animation techniques to reconstruct prehistoric faces for The Travel Channel in...

ABC flagship World News.
November 1, 2000... ABC flagship World News Tonight gets a UK twist with titles by Brits Paul Brodie and Craig Whellan for Manhattan Transfer. To "evoke the warm, golden sunset time-of-day" for an early-evening programme that goes out to 200m people worldwide,...

Tony Marchant.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... Never Never, Tony Marchant's second drama for Channel 4, had to go back into post to get rid of "too much luminescence" in one scene, according to Todd-AO's Lynn Horsford; the fear was it could bring on epilepsy. Company Pictures' 2x90-minute...

Who'll fight the indie cause?(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... Just as the most significant piece of broadcast legislation for a decade comes into the public arena, two yawning gaps appear at Pact - the trade body dedicated to the interests of independent producers. Should we worry? The resignations of...

"Britain's best-loved news-reader.".(Trevor McDonald)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... Any member of the hapless public who remembers what time which channel is showing news should be working for the ITC. After much fuss about ITV wriggling out of a 10pm slot it reviled for three or more nights a week, Sky News gravely announced...

ITV.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... That other pillar of the schedule, the soap, is also in the melting pot. The media outcry of "too many soaps" that greeted ITV's Crossroads revival and its new Trafalgar Road were stolidly countered by ITV - until Nick Elliott found himself...

BBC's Eastenders.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... A further gap in ITV's drama line-up came as LWT drama head. Jo Wright and deputy Laura Mackie defected the Granada Media fold despite its plans to collapse United and LWT into a southern drama hot-house. Mackie opted to become an executive...

Who authored the cosmos?(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... Denis Maryk of Metcom Video (Opinion, Televisual October) seems to blame York Films for not mentioning the authoring house in the piece about the genesis of our two-DVD-9 release, The Complete Cosmos. Why? We ensured that Metcom author Gary...

Survey? What survey?(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... Colour Film Services has been shooting tape to film transfers for over 30 years, so your story (Televisual October) concerning Cinesite's triumph in a "worldwide survey" was of interest, and begged the question: how many companies were...

Join a campaign for quality.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... I'm often intrigued by the increasing number of people who boast "not to watch" television; instead they lead amore fulfilling life indulging in other more important interests. For many, however, television and radio is still an important...

Why preach to the converted?(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... Ever since the impact of niche TV channels began to show up in the ratings, with BBC1 and ITV both owning to an inexorable decline in audience share, the assumption has been that advertisers will flock sheeplike to any new zone which delivers...

New media at five.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... Channel 5 has interactive plans afoot and has poached Sham Sandhu from the BBC as its first controller of interactive programmes. Sandhu tells of an obsession with American television, of webcast jewels and of the theraputic effect of office...

Special relativity.
November 1, 2000... Einstein, the science channel that gets its UK launch early next year, got its intitial outing in Germany. Anastasia Kershaw finds out why from its group chief executive - and veteran UK independent producer For a flavour of Einstein, check...

It's a cg dog's life down at Aardman's.(computer animation)
November 1, 2000... If you just think claymation when you think Aardman and animals, think again. Christina Pishiris visits its burgeoning cgi department to see how a way with creatures translates to computers and to five ads for The Co-Op How many animators...

Bespoke TV.(UK television programmers and advertisers)
November 1, 2000... This arrival here of TiVo (your very own personal video recorder) prompts Richard Burdett, vice-chair of media planner CIA UK, to call for programmers and advertisers to unite in the face of technology It's largely been the case that the...

Watching the game.(forecasting UK television advertising)
November 1, 2000... It's the chance to get the almagnac out and look back over the year's events, as well as to ponder the future. Sam Espensen rounds up the cream of the ad production crop (page 35) and then gets them to consult the oracle It's been the year...

Producers' top tens.(television advertising)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... For a business where the job is to come up with a brilliant new idea every five minutes, the ad world displays remarkable loyalty - not to say conservatism - towards its favourites. Here we track this year's (minor) changes in producers' top...

Editors cut to fit.(rating film editors)
November 1, 2000... And then they go down the pub. Simon Meek bumps into this year's top 10 film editors, as voted for by more than 200 independent producers in the commercials, broadcast and corporate businesses You must tread softly so they don't hear your...

SW9 stories.(South West Nine, UK television program)
November 1, 2000... "This ain't Notting Hill," but from the makers of Human Traffic comes a film where a very different London community takes centre stage. As Sam Espensen finds out, it's a Brixton thing Fruit Salad Films has just got underway editing South...

HM Production.
November 1, 2000... Been round every broadcast commissioner on the block? Then head down to Whitehall where your country (in the shape of the FCO producer/commissioner, Infonation) needs you. Not every TV producer works in an office overlooking Downing Street...

SVC drives on with BMW's X5.
November 1, 2000... SVC created the visual effects for the latest BMW spot, BMW X5 Luge, which features a street luger, a Spanish mountain and the four-wheel-drive X5. The ad, edited by David Webb at Final Cut, shows the BMW drive over a man on a street luge...

NTL's sub-surface haven.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... There's been a lot happening around NTL of late - with Telewest fobbing off the cable operator over the [pound]9bn debt it has accumulated; and more poignantly as the corporate giant allows the rights to England's Premier League soccer games...

Bazley Films.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... Bazley Films is in the final stages of post on Richard Haydn's The Journal of Edwin Carp, developed in Flash for theatrical release early 2001. The short, directed and animated by Richard Bazley (ex-lead animator at Disney and Warner Bros),...

Robbie's Done and Dusted it.(telecast of Robbie Williams television special)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... After the success of his Slane Castle gig last year, Robbie Williams has recommissioned Done and Dusted to produce a global TV special from the Manchester event in his sold-out arena tour. A total of 14 DigiBeta cameras, three DVCs and a...

Atomic Arts breaks into Entertainment.(developing longer features)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... Cg animation house Atomic Arts is launching Atomic Entertainment in a bid to expand its long-format division into new territories. The independently-funded division, headed by Sean O'Kelly, aims to take Atomic Arts into the heart of the...

Microsoft counts on 124.(contract for 124)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... Channel 4's post production facility 124 is working with Microsoft and Intel on a business marketing package an initiative formed by the two computer giants to educate their clients in how technology can be used to enhance their business. ...

Web-television takes a fall.(Pseudo Television collapses)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... Web-TV is set to reach 41 million US homes by 2005 in a marketplace estimated to exceed $21 bn by 2008, predict the Strategies Group and Real Networks respectively. So it surely follows that, in such a prosperous marketplace, any company with...

3D animation company.(The Hive)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... 3D animation company The Hive has created a colourful virtual bedroom for a series of five Lego Software commercials. The set, created in Lightwave and Maya, is being used to host live footage of two boys enacting various sports. This includes...

Omnivision.(headquarters at Pinewood Studios)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... Omnivision has opened its headquarters at Pinewood Studios, coinciding with the inauguration of Pinewood's first dedicated television studio. Headed by Steve Rowsell (right) and Christopher Morris, it has taken on the mantle of the first UK...

BBC Resources.(work on documentary)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... BBC Resources has produced the content graphics for The Discovery Channel's Rage to Revenge. The 50-minute science documentary uses a blend of live-action and cg to illustrate the programme's investigation into the complex workings of the human...

Smooth and silky.(Soho sound studio Silk Sound)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... A familiar Soho Sound studio is in the middle of a complete makeover. Sam Espensen meets Robbie Weston and Rick Dzendzera to see the before-and-after of the new Silk Sound Silk Sound has been around for over 20 years, but on Berwick Street...

Make the switch from off to online.(opportunity in Internet programming)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... ETVcentre.com is the latest venture for ex-SVC Andrew Bell and Tim Woolford, who now operate in the interactive domain Having recently visited the Mip-com TV festival in Cannes, one thing is very clear: television is changing. The...

When is an independent...?(foreign media ownership rules)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... Stripped of his independence by what he sees as outdated media ownership rules, the UK indies' top indie pitches into the commmunications reform debate to be launched with this autumn's white paper Earlier this year, a Spanish telecomms...

STORYBOARD.(animated films up for awards)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... Storyboard presents it's pick of this year's Leaf nominations; starring Hot Spot, Dinosaurs, Cheez Dippers, Body Story, Gladiator, Thrasher: Skate and Destroy and the British Animation Awards 2000 * Disney's Dinosaurs, set 65m years ago,...